


Surprise

by Starwars_nerd



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: DameRey, F/M, Poe and Rey are my life help, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 17:12:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5635114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starwars_nerd/pseuds/Starwars_nerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Much to Poe's distress, Rey has never celebrated her birthday. She doesn't even know when it is. Poe needs to remedy that ASAP.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! I'm back with more Damerey. This time it's fluff, not smut, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

By the time they were a few months into their relationship, Poe had learned something very important about Rey: She'd never celebrated her birthday. 

This revelation came two and a half months into their relationship. Rey had been working underneath the Falcon when a familiar pair of boots appeared next to her, and when she paused to gaze up at the owner she was greeted with a dazzling grin. 

"You ready to take off? It's late, you know," Poe asked, squatting next to her. 

"Yeah, I've just got a couple things left to—"

"Rey, if you stay any longer we aren't gonna make it in time for the birthday party."

"The what?"

"The birthday party! It's in the mess hall and if you don't hurry up we won't make it in time to wish him a happy birthday."

"Wish him a happy WHAT?" Rey put down her tools for a moment to stare at Poe in confusion. His eyes widened, and he gaped at her incredulously. 

"You don't know what a birthday is?"

"…no?"

"Come on, you must've had birthdays on Jakku. It was civilized enough."

"I lived alone and avoided interaction with those people whenever possible."

"So you've never been to a birthday party?"

"Should I have?"

Poe grasped Rey's hand and pulled her out from under the ship, heading immediately toward the mess hall with her in tow. 

"Poe!" Rey yelped, pulling back just a little but unable to help laughing. "I wasn't finished!"

"It'll be there when you get back. This is important," he answered, grinning at her as she came to walk beside him but leaving her hand enveloped in his. "Your birthday," he explained, "is the day you celebrate the day you were born. It's the same day every year, but the length of a year differs on every planet, so it's kind of hard to keep up with. We typically just celebrate it every 365 days." He gave her a lopsided smile. "I'm thirty-two. How old are you?"

"The medical droids said I'm nineteen, but I don't know when I was born or how they knew that," Rey answered, biting her lip nervously. She could see the ghost of a frown that appeared on Poe's forehead, but it disappeared quickly. She hoped he wasn't upset that she didn't know her birthday. 

"Well I'm sure we'll figure it out. Anyway, sometimes we celebrate a person getting a year older with a party, and there's cake and everyone gives the person gifts and–"

"Cake?" There was suddenly a hopeful, almost mischievous gleam in Rey's eyes. 

He chuckled at her excitement. "Yes, cake. Don't worry, you'll get some."

When they reached the mess hall, the party was nearing its end. Poe left for a moment to offer best wishes to the mechanic, and when he returned Rey was rooted to the same place gazing around with that look of wonder Poe had come to love. Everything was new, and he loved sharing those experiences with her. 

Giving her a soft smile, he tugged her over to the birthday cake. It was chocolate, and Rey glanced at him inquisitively. She'd only ever had vanilla, he realized. 

"Chocolate cake is the best. Try it! You like chocolate, so you'll love this."

The moan that ripped from her throat at her first bite was positively scandalous. She blushed as several people's heads snapped around to see where that noise had come from, and Poe laughed harder than Rey thought was really warranted. 

 

Three weeks later, Rey was having the strangest day at the Resistance base she could remember. Poe had been out on a night flight, so she'd spent the night with her room to herself. She'd woken up and nothing had seemed different, but just after she got dressed there was a knock at her door. It slid open to reveal Finn, grinning a little too widely and holding a large tray of breakfast foods. 

"Good morning, Sunshine!" he exclaimed, setting the food down on her small table and taking one of the chairs. 

"Finn, I've asked you not to call me that," Rey answered, biting the inside of her cheek to keep the small smile the nickname caused from surfacing. 

"I know, but you're my Rey of Sunshine and you telling me not to isn't gonna stop me."

Rey rolled her eyes. "You're just awful. What am I going to do with you two? And what are you doing here, anyway? It's way earlier than you have to be up." 

He averted his eyes, adding to Rey's suspicion. "I know, but this morning I thought you might like some company for breakfast."

"Finn, I like eating alone. In the mess hall. Not my room. Besides, sometimes the General joins me if she's up this early. What are you doing here?"

"I know you say you like it but eating alone every morning in the mess hall just seems so lonely and I was awake anyway so I brought you breakfast. Why is that so odd Rey? I like spending time with you! Why are you questioning everything I do?"

Rey's eyes widened as she took the seat opposite him and started eating. "I'm not! Calm down, it was just sort of out of the blue is all."

Finn's nervous, exasperated look disappeared and was replaced with a smile. "I just love spending time with you, Sunshine."

"Cut it out."

"Never."

 

After breakfast, Rey headed to training. 

"Something is troubling you, Rey. I can sense your uneasiness. What's wrong?"

Rey faltered, considering brushing it off, but she knew Master Luke could tell something was wrong and there was no point in denying it.

"It's just—well it sounds silly, but Finn was acting weird this morning. Like, he brought breakfast to my room even though I usually eat in the mess hall and he never gets up as early as I do. It's probably nothing—"

"Never dismiss your feelings. The Force can give you great insight, and you must use your feelings to stretch out and sense things others cannot. If you felt that something was off, you must trust yourself enough to know that you're right." He paused, a troubled look coming over him. "But, perhaps this time, it's best that you leave it alone."

Rey frowned. "So I'm right that something is going on with Finn, but I shouldn't find out what it is?"

"Patience, Rey. If you wait, in time, the answer will come to you."

Rey didn't like waiting. She'd waited for a lifetime on Jakku, and she wasn't about to lose her friends the way she lost her family. But Master Luke had given her specific instructions, so she tried to clear her mind of it and focus on her training. 

 

When lunch came and her training for the day was over, Rey headed toward the mess hall, but was stopped in the hallway by a frantic looking Poe carrying a picnic basket. As soon as he saw her, relief flooded his features, which was quickly replaced by a casual smile. 

"Hey, I was just looking for you! Where do you want to eat?" he asked, giving her a quick kiss and turning her the opposite direction. 

"Well, I was perfectly happy just eating in the mess hall where we normally meet, Poe…" she answered, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Well, sure, we could do that, but why not shake things up a bit, huh? Let's do something a little different today."

"That's funny."

"What?"

"Finn had that same idea this morning. You wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?" Rey narrowed her eyes at him. She would never use the Force on Poe, or anyone unless absolutely necessary, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to intimidate the truth out of him. 

Poe gave her an innocent look. "No, I haven't seen Finn much today. I've been busy. What did he do this morning?"

Rey stared him down a few more seconds before facing the front again. "He brought me breakfast in my room."

Poe chuckled a little. "And that's odd?"

"It is when he's never done that before and he doesn't get up as early as I do!"

"There's a first time for everything! Hey, maybe he knew I was out on a night flight so you'd be spending the morning alone and he wanted to keep you company."

Rey frowned, contemplating. That made sense. And it wasn't so odd; after all, friends did nice things for each other all the time. At least, she thought they did. Maybe she was overthinking. Or maybe it just felt strange because she still didn't quite know how to be friends with someone or how to be in a relationship. 

But Master Luke had said to trust her feelings, and right now she knew that Poe and Finn were hiding something from her. 

Rey opened her mouth to ask him flat out, but stopped herself. Luke had also said to wait for the answer to come to her. 

Being a Jedi was hard. 

So Rey dropped it, at least for the most part. She had a hard time focusing on what Poe was saying since she was trying to analyze her feelings and figure out what her gut was trying to tell her, but he didn't seem to mind how distant she was. He knew something she didn't, and he was far too comfortable with that. 

By the time they finished eating (they'd decided the perfect place for their picnic was in the Falcon since Chewy was in the mess hall), Rey was more frustrated than she had been with Finn this morning. She hadn't been able to get anything from Poe; every time they got anywhere near the topic of what he was hiding he would change the subject. Maybe if she just had a little more time alone with him…

"You want to stay and help me work on the Falcon?" Rey asked, smiling brightly. She really did love having him keep her company while she was working. 

He faltered a little. "Actually, I've got some, uh…business to take care of this afternoon."

"Business? But you had a night flight! You always get the day off after a night flight."

"Yeah, but today I've got a few things to do. I'll see you later, okay?"

With a deep kiss that came very near to distracting her from his odd behavior, Poe was gone, and Rey was feeling dejected and confused. 

She threw herself into fixing up the ship. In her free time, she and Chewy had been taking it apart and putting it back together again—seeing what was rusted, what needed to be replaced, what needed to be cleaned—and it was a nice distraction. In fact, she was so focused a few hours later that she didn't notice the little droid that rolled up to her until he beeped excitedly. 

"BB-8! What are you doing here?" Rey asked, squatting down to his level. 

A compartment opened up to reveal a small bundle of strawberries–a gift from Poe, no doubt. Rey took them happily, but sighed as she sat down. 

"Where is Poe, anyway?"

A series of beeps came as her answer. 

"What do you mean you don't know? Didn't he send you with these?…Then shouldn't you know where he is?"

The droid let out a nervous squee. 

"Don't tell me you're in on this too. I just wish someone would tell me what's going on!" 

With another few beeps, BB-8 rolled out of the ship and into the base. 

Rey let out a frustrated huff and flopped back on the floor. Finn, Poe, BB-8…even Master Luke had acted odd when she mentioned what was bothering her! She honestly couldn't make heads or tails of their behavior, and now she couldn't do much else with the Falcon because Chewy hadn't come back with the parts she needed yet. Actually, where was he? He should've been back hours ago. Was he in on it too? Was the entire base keeping a secret from her? Or was she just paranoid?

Just then, there was a click of boots coming up the ramp, and–

"General Organa!" Rey yelped, jumping to her feet. 

Leia gazed around the ship, her eyes soft and misty, as though she were remembering something long forgotten. 

"Rey," she said, coming out of her daze after a moment. "Would you join me, please?"

Rey swallowed nervously. Why would the general want to speak to her? Had something happened to Poe? Or Finn?

Leia chuckled gently, as if she had read Rey's thoughts. "No, nothing is wrong, I just didn't see you this morning and I thought you might like to take a walk with me."

Rey let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry, Finn brought my breakfast to my room this morning instead of letting me go to the mess hall like I usually do. I've had rather an odd day."

"Really? I am sorry," the general answered, but Rey got that strange feeling that General Organa was keeping something from her.

The same feeling she'd been getting from everyone that day. 

"Were you in there by yourself this whole afternoon?" Leia inquired, startling Rey out of her thoughts. 

"Um, no, Chewbacca went to get some parts a few hours ago, but he hasn't come back yet. Where are we going?"

"Oh," the general replied, "just around the base. I needed a break, and I thought you might as well."

Rey's brow furrowed. Every once in a while she would still get lost around the base, so her memory wasn't entirely trustworthy, but if she was right, they were headed toward the mess hall.

As it turns out, she was right. Just as they walked in, Rey turned to ask what they were doing there, but was cut off. 

"SURPRISE!"

Rey stood in stunned confusion at the scene before her. Poe, Finn, and BB-8 were at the front of the crowd—which seemed to be comprised of at least half the Resistance. The mess hall was decorated colorfully, and a large, hand painted banner across the back of the room read 'Happy Birthday Rey'. 

Rey remained rooted to the spot as everyone cheered and Poe and Finn came forward and wrapped her in a hug. 

"It's…it's not my birthday," she whispered. 

"Well, we figured—Poe figured, actually—since you don't know when your birthday is, we'd just pick a day and call it your birthday from now on and throw you the best birthday party ever!" Finn explained, grinning from ear to ear. 

"I'm sorry we were so weird today," Poe added. "We wanted it to be a surprise, and we had to keep you out of the mess hall so you wouldn't see the decorations or smell the cake being baked, so we—"

"Cake?" Rey gasped. 

Finn and Poe both laughed. "Yes, and it's chocolate, of course," Poe answered. 

"Enjoy it while you can," General Organa said with a smile as she approached. "It's for special occasions only!"

They gathered around the cake and sang a song that Rey guessed was traditional. Then, after slicing up the cake for everyone, Poe presented Rey with a big box wrapped in colorful paper. 

"It's from all of us," he said with a wink. 

Inside was a a jacket near identical to the one Poe had given Finn. Rey grinned as she hugged them both, and then the General, and even Master Luke and Chewy and the droids.

The party lasted another hour before it was time to retire for the night. 

Finn walked with Rey and Poe back to Rey's room since his was right next door. Rey gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you so much for everything, Finn."

He smiled warmly. "I'd do anything for you, Sunshine."

Rey smacked him on the shoulder as he laughed. "Way to ruin it!"

Once Finn's door was shut, Rey raised an eyebrow at Poe. 

"Where's BB-8?"

"I believe he told me he'd find another charging station tonight."

"So your room?"

"Yeah, if you'd like."

"You know I would…your room is bigger and more comfortable and smells like you."

Poe laughed at that before taking her hand and heading down the hall. "Really? It smells like me?"

"Mhm. I love the way you smell."

"Well I love you."

"You don't have to one up me every time!" Rey giggled, blushing. 

They fell into a comfortable silence until they were safely in his room. 

"Hang on, I've got a present for you," Poe said, heading over to his closet and retrieving a large, brown box. 

"You already got me a present!" Rey exclaimed. 

"That was a present from everyone. This is a present from me," he explained, pulling something out of the box. 

It was the helmet she brought from Jakku, but it looked brand new. 

"I considered getting it painted as a Resistance helmet, but I figured you probably have a lot of memories with it, so I just got it touched up. This is what it would've looked like back during the Rebellion."

Rey was blinking back tears, completely at a loss for words. 

Poe started to get nervous. Maybe she wanted it left alone? He shouldn't have messed with it. The jacket was fine, but the helmet was a bad idea. 

"Do you like it, Princess?"

"Poe, I…oh, stars, I love it! It's perfect, I-I don't know how to…thank you…" And suddenly Rey was crying, and Poe put the helmet back in the box and surged forward to wrap his arms around her. "No one's ever done anything like that for me before," she whispered, burying her head in his chest. "Not just the helmet, but the party, and giving me a b-birthday, and—"

"Shhh, hey, it's alright," Poe cut her off, rubbing circles on her back and pressing kisses to the top of her head. 

Gently, he picked her up and set her on the bed. He took down her hair, running his fingers through it and massaging her scalp. Then he undressed her and pulled one of his shirts over her head before changing into sleep shorts himself and turning the light off. 

As they lay in bed, Rey curled into Poe and his arms wrapped around her, he heard her speak, her voice no more than a whisper, reminding him of a lost kitten mewling. 

"Poe?"

"Yeah?"

"Was that party your idea? Because I told you I'd never celebrated my birthday?"

"Yeah."

She was silent for a while before speaking again. 

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Princess."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."


End file.
